Sir, - John Sheedy suggests (July 20th) that both persuasions in the North should voluntarily forgo their right to march rather than aggressively insisting on exercising that right. This has been floated many times before and has always fallen on barren ground, or should I say well-trampled ground.
Mr Sheedy displays naivety if he thinks his suggestion would receive even cursory consideration from the Orange Order in view of the fact that they refuse even to recognise the legitimacy of the British Government-appointed Parades Commission, let alone meet with them. Their persistent refusal to meet with the residents groups of areas where they insist on marching is in line with their slogan "No talk, just walk". But, as most people know, it is not the march which is most important but the route which the march takes. From Dolly's Brae to the Garvaghy Road, they appear hell-bent on antagonising the living, rather than honouring the dead.
The UK Government outlawed the National Front from marching through predominantly black areas of Britain. Likewise they outlawed the Neo-Nazis from exercising their "civil right" to march in predominantly Jewish areas. They should now grasp the nettle and establish a Royal Commission to examine all the manifestations of sectarianism in the North and to report with recommendations that would have the force of law.
Following the second World War an extensive body of legislation was put in place in Germany to outlaw any remaining elements of the anti-Jewish culture that had grown up around the Nazi party. A similar response to deal with the endemic anti-Catholicism in large parts of the unionist and Orange edifice is now required. Civilised society demands such action now. - Yours, etc., Tom Cooper,
Templeogue Dublin 16